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Nov 21, 2009

Genealogy and Serendipity...

I'm going to take a detour from genealogy facts for a moment and tell you about one of those goosebump raising "Genealogy and Serendipity'' moments. I can't believe how many of these I have had over the past few years.

About 3 years ago I was ''surfing'' for anything Irish and came across a site of Irish cultures and traditions and started reading an article called ''Shrovetide - The Marrying Season''. It was written by Bridget Haggerty and posted on the site www.irishcultureandcustoms.com

As I started reading it talked about the match-making season starting the day after Epiphany, January 6th. That stuck out because I got married on January 6th. Then my eyes scrolled over to the picture attached to the article and the goosebumps popped out. The picture on the post is the same picture that was on my Wedding Thank-You cards...and I got married long before I had done any genealogy work or knew anything about my Irish ancestry.

Dear Ancestor

Your tombstone stands among the rest;Neglected and alone.The name and date are chiseled outOn polished, marble stone.It reaches out to all who careIt is too late to mourn.You did not know that I existYou died and I was born.Yet each of us are cells of youIn flesh, in blood, in bone.Our blood contracts and beats a pulseEntirely not our own.Dear Ancestor, the place you filledOne hundred years agoSpreads out among the ones you leftWho would have loved you so.I wonder how you lived and loved,I wonder if you knewThat someday I would find this spot,And come to visit you.~ Author Unknown ~